Straight North

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Musicians Made

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a local music school that teaches private lessons to all ages and abilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Straight North to accomplish?

• Improve our SEO
• Increase ROI
• Optimize our ads & GMB profile

SOLUTION

How did you find Straight North?

Online Search

Why did you select Straight North over others?

• Great culture fit
• Other

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Straight North has helped us improve our overall local SEO and optimize our ads and GMB profile. They have build out multiple pages on our website, written articles to get high quality backlinks, and helped up optimize our digital marketing presence in the community. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have increased our monthly lead count which in turn has helped us to increase revenue. Our biggest goal was to have a great ROI and Straight North has fully delivered on that!

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Items have been delivered in a timely manner and they have responded to our needs and concerns very well! I am very impressed with their level of care and dedication to our goals!

What was your primary form of communication with Straight North?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are very experienced in the digital marketing feild. I initially hired them because they had so much industry experience and even marketing experience in my specific business!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Straight North could have done differently?

Straight North has delivered at a high level for everything they cover for us in digital marketing. I think my expectations were just off a little when it comes to haow far their service would go. I.E. when building out pages they kill the seo copy and build out a very basic page. I should have understood that design/layout of new pages was not included in that service. So overall the only improvement would just be more clarity in onboarding. I am overall very pleased!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Vice President Marketing of Bernina of America

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

BERNINA of America has been one of the world's leading sewing and embroidery machine manufacturers for more than 130 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Straight North to accomplish?

• Improve Direct Mail Promotions
• Raise the Creative Bar
• Increase Dealer Participation

SOLUTION

How did you find Straight North?

Referral

Why did you select Straight North over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Straight North were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Monthly Direct Mail Programs supported by digital assets for Social Media and online marketing for B2C and also providing assets to our dealers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Participation amoung our dealers saw an increase of 11% and consumer sales were increased by approximately 20%.  Both Dealers and consumers enjoyed the beautiful and engaging creative product.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Straight North from day one exceeded our expecations not only with on time and on budget, but the quality of the work.  They are very much an important part of our extended team.  They picked up our brand and voice so quickly and you can tell they all love what they do and it shows in the product they produce.

What was your primary form of communication with Straight North?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The people.  They are a joy to work with.  They care so much about each assignment and put their all into it.  They are a wonderful partner and my team loves working with them.  It's seamless and we work with several different creative partners and Straight North partners with everyone.  It's about the work and doing the best to get the results. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Straight North could have done differently?

Nothing.  We couldn't be more pleased with the product and service we receive. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the accounting and office manager at an HVAC installation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We needed their team’s SEO expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North helps maintain and optimize our website and tracks our Google hits. Every month, they show us our Google hits progress, whether it’s been up or down. They come up with strategies and give us suggestions for blogs for our website. 

What is the team composition?

I deal with one teammate, Katie (Account Manager)

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Straight North has met every monthly goal each month; the quality of their work is top-notch. All their suggestions have been awesome. We were very impressed with their initial presentation.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?

Straight North has met all the deadlines, and Katie is always in communication with me. We communicate through email and Zoom meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do everything well. The prior company we worked with didn’t take the initiative that Straight North does.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I recommend having an initial meeting with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a client representative for a third-party logistics provider. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We were looking for an updated modern website, so we hired Straight North. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave Straight North a general idea of what we were looking for and notes about the content we wanted on the site. The website has multiple pages, links to our inventory management system, and a place for customers to contact us. The team also provided SEO and wrote content for the website. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with about seven people, including Natalie (Project Manager). 

How did you come to work with Straight North?

We found them through Clutch. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between June 2022–April 2023, but there were delays on our end that caused the engagement to go longer. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve had very positive internal feedback and seen an increase in leads since the launch. Overall, we’re pleased with the outcome of the site and how it’s working. 

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Things were delayed a bit, but that wasn’t Straight North’s fault. The team stayed within budget despite the delay and was very accommodating. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The process was smooth, and the team was flexible and responsive. When we had any issues, Straight North was able to solve them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing we can come up with. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Reach out to your project manager if you have any questions. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Specialist of (a/an) Business services

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a global systems integrator focused on delivering results for our customers through unparalleled service excellence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Straight North to accomplish?

• Bring our cost per acquisition down to around $100
• Increase market share
• Stabilize our account and make steady progress

SOLUTION

How did you find Straight North?

Online Search

Why did you select Straight North over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing first our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We brought on Straight North to help manage our Google ad account. It had been passed around on our team for a while and was not delivering consistent results. This was a large deliverable that was expected, as well as achieving our previous goals. We run ads for just our company in a competitive industry and have anywhere from 8 - 10 campaign groups live.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• We have reached and stayed within our $100 Cost per acquisition range
• We have increased our market share
• Our overall impressions have continue to go up

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

This team has been very responsive! Sara has always been a good point of communication for us and when small mistakes were made she was quick to fix them. We have monthly meetings and go over our progress and Sara always takes time to make sure we have time to chat about our own ideas or concerns. I feel like this is the best our Google ad account has ever been handled and they have proven to be real experts in this area.

What was your primary form of communication with Straight North?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We're impressed with the consistency of their work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Straight North could have done differently?

Not that I can think of. If any issues have arisen they were always handled promptly. I think Straight North has done a great job!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sales Manager of a cold storage service company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We rent our refrigerated containers and trailers to businesses who need to store temprature sensitive products/materials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Straight North to accomplish?

• Enhance our digital footprint
• Increase traffic to our website

SOLUTION

How did you find Straight North?

Online Search

Why did you select Straight North over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Straight North’s team?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

By creating target words, back links, and campaigns we were able to drive more traffic to our website creating more leads for sales.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• website page clicks
• Website leads generated

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Justin has been a great partner for our company. We have done quite a lot of website tailoring and customizing to fit our needs. All efforts to meet the requirements have been prompt and accurate. We really enjoy working with Justin and his expertise makes for a simple yet efficient relationship with Straight North.

What was your primary form of communication with Straight North?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The Straight North Dashboard that breaks down all our data and metrics is a tool that has been very valuable. We enjoy running throught all the objective data weekly to see where we can improve and identify what we are doing well.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Straight North could have done differently?

Any issues that we have are presented to our account manager (Justin) and then promptly rectified so nothing to report at this time,

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a department director for an HVAC and plumbing company comprising a network of local HVAC and plumbing businesses across the country. In my role, I’m responsible for driving the SEO and content strategy and performance for all of our branches across the network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We needed someone to provide us with SEO services to help drive our organic search performance. Our ultimate goal was to capture the attention of searchers for our services and drive them to our sites to ultimately convert into leads for the business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Straight North helps us drive our content strategy and create new and refreshed content across our websites. Initially, we provided them with a brief, and we went through a scoping process to get aligned on the deliverables and expected outcomes.

Thus far, Straight North has worked on 10 different websites across our network, including our main website and nine local websites. For every website, they initially do a foundational analysis and some audits to better understand its current strengths and weaknesses from a content and technical perspective.

Once Straight North completes the initial analysis, they send us their findings and recommendations on how to address some opportunities. From there on, they provide us with monthly recommendations for on-page content updates. Their scope includes keyword research and content ideation.

When we approve Straight North’s recommendations, they go ahead and create the content for us to review and ultimately publish on our websites. In addition to that, they provide us with follow-up reporting and analysis on how our content updates are performing. This part of the process also includes competitor analysis.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of 5–6 people from Straight North, most of whom work behind the scenes. We mainly collaborate with the account manager, but they sometimes bring a subject matter expert (SME) into the conversation.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

My company started working with Straight North before I joined, so I’m not completely sure how that relationship started.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $25,000 per month. However, our budget has increased over time. In total, we’ve spent close to $600,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around June 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The main KPIs we use to evaluate Straight North’s performance are our increases in organic leads and revenue. As secondary indicators, we look at organic traffic and page-one keyword coverage growth for our target keywords. Although I can’t share specific numbers, I know that our partnership has grown since I joined because they’ve helped us drive good performance on our sites.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Straight North delivers on time and within budget. They use their own proprietary tool for reporting called Go North; however, we don’t use it because we haven’t found value in it. Additionally, we communicate via email and virtual meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Straight North has a strong content strategy and focus.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve identified two areas of opportunity for Straight North. On the one hand, their reporting cadence and level of detail could be improved. We feel like we’re not getting proper data analysis and reporting from them.

On the other hand, I’ve only worked with Straight North’s account manager. However, I’m used to working with other SEO agencies on status calls where the account manager, an SME, and 2–3 people who actually do the job participate. I feel that only working with the account manager creates additional layers of feedback, making it cumbersome to get an answer. Therefore, it would be great if Straight North included more people on the calls.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand upfront what type of reporting and analysis you want from the agency, as well as what type of strategic approach. Based on that, ask Straight North the proper questions to ensure that they’ll provide the level of detail you want from their reporting and analysis.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a director at a custom-label manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North? 

I inherited our relationship with Straight North from the previous director in my position. However, I believe we initially contacted Straight North for our website’s redesign, and they’ve been offering web management and SEO services since then.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have an ongoing relationship with Straight North. They offer us web management and SEO services. Although I’ve only been working with Straight North for 10–11, I know they’ve managed PPC campaigns for us in the past. Straight North has also updated our company’s website using information from a previous site. The site is hosted in Drupal, and we’ve talked about changing it to WordPress in the future. 

Moreover, Straight North manages our backlinking strategy and creates monthly blog posts. They send me their content for approval, and I review each post and make any required changes before they publish it. Straight North also helps us with keyword research and on-page optimization — they update our site’s copy to optimize our SEO. 

Moreover, Straight North advises about our SEO strategy. For instance, I recently asked them if backlinking was still relevant with Google’s algorithm's continuous updates. Straight North has explained the relevance of backlinking and how they still help determine a page's ranking. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Michelle (Account Manager) on an ongoing basis. We also work with Ian (VP of Sales). 

How did you come to work with Straight North?

I’m unsure how we initially found Straight North since I wasn’t involved in that process. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have a monthly fee with Straight North of $3000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Straight North in March 2013, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our site’s performance has been improving working with Straight North. We’ve had a web traffic increase of 5.5% year-over-year (YoY). Our target page’s traffic has also increased by 41% YoY. Our search rankings for some of our target keywords have also increased to the first results page.

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

Straight North meets deadlines and stays on budget. They have their own project management tool, where I can access our project’s dashboard and see what they’re working on and the completed tasks. 

Moreover, Straight North sends monthly reports with detailed information about our site’s performance and SEO ranking. We communicate through email and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with Straight North’s work consistency. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When I joined the project, I had an extensive conversation with Michelle, where we discussed what Straight North had done for our company and the current projects’ status. I’d like to have more of those strategic conversations throughout our engagement. Maybe meet at the beginning of the year to analyze the previous year’s results and see what we succeed in and what we need to change. 

Moreover, it would also be great to have updates about the Google algorithm’s changes and updates. I create organic content for our social media and blog, and it would be great if Straight North could give me insights to help improve our SEO with that content too. I wish we had a more collaborative partnership.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend staying in touch with your account manager from Straight North and ensuring you stay on top of the aspects that are important to you. For instance, I ask Michelle a lot of questions. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and communications at an education system. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Straight North?

We needed help with paid search advertising and SEO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a discovery phase where Straight North researched our local areas and the types of programs we advertised to. As we’ve expanded to add online program opportunities, they’ve adapted their research to be nationwide and made other changes based on our needs. We have a small admissions team, so they’ve also been helping us generate leads and run campaigns as needed.

Straight North has also given us a list of target keywords to improve our SEO. They’ve also helped with link building, blog writing, and updating our pages with keywords to improve our rankings. We had to start over with our rankings when we decided to change our business name, so they also supported us through that process.

In terms of PPC, they primarily help with Google Ads. They’ve helped with the verbiage and created landing pages for our advertising. They’ve also helped us adapt our criminal justice program due to changes within the national criminal justice system. For example, many places no longer require a college degree to become a police officer, so we’ve had to adjust our keywords to attract more people. 

What is the team composition?

Initially, we worked with an onboarding team, but now we work with an account manager, our sole point of contact.

How did you come to work with Straight North?

I found them through online research. I liked their proposal and that they’d worked with other education systems. They were also a cost-effective option. 

How much have you invested with them?

We pay $2,000 monthly for SEO services, and the paid search fee varies depending on our ad spend. We pay Straight North 15% of our monthly ad spend. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2018, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’ve had a successful partnership with Straight North. Since working together, we’ve seen a consistent decrease in cost per lead (CPL) for our paid search. We’ve also seen increases across the board for our different programs due to SEO. Over time, we’ve improved our total enrollment thanks to Straight North’s support. 

Additionally, they did a great job managing our rankings when we changed our name. 

How did Straight North perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed very well concerning project management. Our account manager is always available to take our calls, and she gets everything done quickly. Straight North provides monthly ad reports; we also have a weekly call to discuss ongoing updates. We typically communicate via email and phone. We also use Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with their customer service. Straight North is always willing to think of new ideas and be flexible to our changes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Selfishly, everything could always be cheaper, but Straight North has fair pricing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with Straight North regularly. How much you’re paying them is how much they'll do, so check things yourself if you feel the need.